A federal judge ruled a death row inmate convicted of killing an Alabama woman can be executed using a method that human rights activists have criticized as "cruel" and "inhuman."
Carey Dale Grayson, 49, will be killed by nitrogen hypoxia on Nov. 21 for the 1996 murder of Vickie Deblieux, 37, according to reports.
Grayson's defense team previously argued nitrogen hypoxia was cruel and unusual punishment, violating his Eighth Amendment.
But U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker, Jr. shot down their argument Wednesday, stating in his ruling the "evidence and allegations amount to speculation, a speculative parade of highly unlikely events, and scientific controversy at best. They fall well short of showing that the nitrogen hypoxia protocol creates an unacceptable risk of pain, let alone superadded pain," according to AL.com.
Huffaker also denied the convicted killer's request to be given a fatal dose of fentanyl prior to his execution, but is considering permitting a mild sedative, the outlet reported.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights previously condemned the execution method when it was used to end the life of Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Smith in January.
"We have serious concerns that Smith's execution in these circumstances could breach the prohibition on torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as his right to effective remedies," a spokesperson for the UN said in a statement in part, earlier this year.
"These are rights set out in two International Human Rights treaties where the United States is bound by – the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment."
"The Human Rights Committee, the UN body charged with monitoring implementation of the Covenant, has also criticized the use of asphyxiation by gas as an execution method, the use of untested methods, as well as widening the use of the death penalty in States that continue to apply it."
Earlier this year, Gov. Kay Ivey said she had no intention of granting Grayson – who was 19 at the time of the murder – clemency for his part in the kidnapping and torture of Deblieux while she hitchhiked Feb. 22, 1994.
Her naked and dismembered body was discovered at the bottom of a cliff in St. Clair County, Alabama. An autopsy revealed she was stabbed more than 180 times. She died from blunt force trauma to the head and possible asphyxiation, a coroner determined, according to the outlet.
Grayson was also convicted of one count of first-degree intentional murder during a kidnapping and intentional murder during a robbery, according to the Alabama Reflector. He was sentenced to death. Kenny Loggins, 17, Trace Duncan, 17, and Louis Mangione, 16, were co-defendants in his case and each sentenced to life in prison.
